power

this was posted in reply to barbaraQ’s blog entry about the not quite equal status of iraqi women under the not yet new constitution…i thought i’d record it here too.

women have power over life…we are the creators of life. women have power over death…we nurse those dancing with death; we soothe those kissed by death; we bathe, swaddle and let go of those taken by death.

men, fearful of our power to create and let go of life have usurped death. they starve, slash, soil and condemn to death all those they fear. and they fear us. they use death as a tool to shave our heads; cover our faces; bind our hands; burn our bodies.

so, what do we do? we do as the witches did. hide our staffs by our brooms; till our soil with our swords; fill our cups with our teas and cast our stones to the wind.

but there’s more to think about here than what i wrote to barbara. there’s more we must do privately and communally. the above is a start. we live our lives privately, honestly, fully and as nobody’s slave or fool. communally, we protect ourselves and other women, raise our children to recognize the power and worth of women and men from womb to grave. we shout. we write. we protest. we get in their faces and we don’t let up until they recognize their mistake and atone for their sin in the face of mother, daughter, lover, goddess, gaia.

4 responses to “power”

Our burqas hide their fanstasies
knives cut
needles stitch shut
the gift bestowed by men
on their sons
In countries called developing
Out lips, breasts, navels, rumps
expertly preen
on the wide screen
men and their money
to lure
In countries called industrialized
But one thing they can never
pluck out, sell
or quell:
the collective voice
rising
From the being called woman

Our burqas hide their fanstasies
knives cut
needles stitch shut
the gift
bestowed on sons
In countries called developing
Our lips, breasts, navels, rumps
hired to preen
on the wide screen
men and their money
to lure
In countries called industrialized
But one thing they can never
pluck out, sell
or quell:
the collective voice
rising from the depths
Of beings called women